Max Baucus: “we have essentially already voted on this. It is very similar to the Portman amendment, which lost by a vote of…”

“we have essentially already voted on this. It is very similar to the Portman amendment, which lost by a vote of 54-to-44. This approach was rejected by the House of Representatives when the Speaker sent over the debt increase to us, which gives us breathing room. We tried the approach suggested by the Senator in August 2011--to tie in spending. It didn't work. This moves us backward, not forward. I think we should give praise to the Speaker for putting together a bipartisan approach to, in a way, begin to resolve our debt and debt limit solutions, and so I ask that this motion be tabled. I move that this motion, the Vitter motion, be tabled, and I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The question is on agreeing to the motion. The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk called the roll.”